Feed-water heater.



PATENTED JULY 31, 1906.

D. HALPIN. FEED WATER HEATER.

APPLIGATION FILED MAYlS, 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

.rm; NORRIS PETERS c0, WASHINGTON, o. c.

No. 827,681. 1 PATENTED JULY 31. 1906.

- D. HALPIN.

FEED WATER HEATER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 16, 1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

F 1 1 E f i 4.:

@ i H 4 i f z i Z 2 E B i zk'z awea, $20676 Zi a/ 11m mamas FETERS'CO, WASHINGTON. n. c.

DRUITTHALPIN, OF WESTMINSTER, LONDON, ENGLAND.

FEED-WATER HEATER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Eatenteu July 31, 1906.

Application filed May 15, 1905. Serial No. 260.505.

T0 ail whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DRUITT HALPIN, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at 17 Victoria street, Westminster, in the,

county of London, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Construction of and Method of Working Thermal Storage Apparatus in Connection with Steam-Generators, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to thermal storage apparatus in connection with steam-generators, such as described in the specifications to my United States Patents No. 519,322, dated January 30, 1894, and No. 685,600, dated October 29, 1901, the main feature of which consists in causing any excess of steam,heat, or power generated in the steamboiler beyond that which is required for cone sumption for the time being 'to be stored in the form of steam and hot water in a separate chamber or reservoir, so as to be subsequently available when a greater amount of duty is required to be performed by the boiler. By this means a steam-generator of comparatively small capacity, supplying only a moderate amount of motive power under normal conditions, is rendered capable of performing a much greater amount of duty at times when greatly-increased power is required.

I have found that by combining two storage vessels of the kind above referred to separately with one and the same generator and operating them in such a manner that while the one vessel (which has previously been filled with water at the same temperature and pressure as that in the generator) is discharging its contents into the generator the second one is being filled with water which is heated to boiler temperature by surplus steam from the generator, so as to be ready to be dischar ed into the latter as soon as the first one is exdiausted, and so on alternately a considerably greater amount of duty can be obtained from the generator with considerable economy in the expenditure of fuel than if the same generator were worked in the ordinary way without the employment of such storage-reservoirs.

My present invention relates to an improved construction of such thermal storagereservoirs for carrying out the above-described mode of working steam-generators,

which affords a very compact and econom ical arrangement and which is as follows: In-

stead of constructing two separate storage vessels having each a separate communication with the steam-space of the generator I construct a single shell having double the ca pacity of a storage vessel such as would be employed if two were used, which shell is divided by a partition into two equal compartments, the partition having, however, one or more openings at the top through which steam can freely pass from the one compartment into the other. The one compartment is made to communicate with the steam-space of the generator by a pipe of sufficiently large diameter to allow the steam to pass freely from the generator to the said compartment and thence through the partition to the other one.

Each compartment is provided with a separate supply of feed-water arranged to enter the steam-space and also with a separate valved connection at or near the bottom with the water-space of the generator.

On the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows a longitudinal section of a double thermal storage-reservoir constructed according to my invention in combination with a steam generator. Fig. 2 shows a longitudinal section of a construction similar to that at Fig. 1, but with a different arrangement of the pipes for discharging the contents of the two compartments into the generator.

In both figures the shell of the double storage-reservoir is divided by a transverse water-tight partition H into two equal compartments A and A, which communicate with each other through an opening at I at the top of the partition. The compartment at A is connected by a large steam-tube C to the steam-space of a generator B, which may be of any kind, but which is here supposed to be the upper steam and water drum of a watertube steam-boilersuch, for example, as the construction shown at Fig. 2. The steamtube C has an extension 0 within the compartment A,- reaching up to near the top thereof, so as to deliver the steam directly into the steam-space of A and also through the opening 1 into that of A. Into the upper part of each compartment is introduced a feed-water pipe D, which is shown broken off, but is supposed to extend along the top of each compartment and to be perforated, so that the feed-water entering in a finely-divided condition comes into intimate contact with the steam entering through C. Each feed-water pipe has an external shut-off valve. (Not shown.)

Near the bottom of the compartment A is provided a horizontal discharge-pipe E,

tween the two valves E E, descends through the steam-tube G into the steam and water drum B, so that if the left-hand valve be opened (the right-hand one being closed) the water contained incompartment A will descend into B, while if the right-hand valve be opened (the left-hand one being closed) the water in A will descend into B. F is an overflow-pipe for preventing the water-level from rising too high, any excess being led down thereby through pipe E E into the boiler.

The mode of operating with the above-described construction is as follows: Assume the steam-generator B to be constructed with sufficient grate-surface and heatingsurface to produce a somewhat greater amount of steam than is required for the duty it has to perform, that steam has been raised therein, that feed-water has been admitted to the compartment A through pipe D and has become heated to boiler temperature by the steam passing up through tubes Then on opening the left-hand valve E while at the same time closing the valve of the feed-water pipe D of compartment A the contents of A will flow down into the drum B of the boiler, thus supplying the same with water at boiler temperature. While the contents of A are being thus discharged, the valve of the feed-water pipe D of compartment A is opened, and the entering feed-water will become heated to boiler temperature by the steam passing up through pipe 0 and over the-top of partition H into A. When compartment A has been nearly emptied, as above described, the left-hand valve E is closed and the right-hand valve is opened, so as now to discharge the contents of A into boiler B, while at the same time the feedwater-supply valve of compartment A is opened again, and so on, thus continuously supplying the generator with water heated to the same temperature as the water contained therein. The compartment will be filled and heated up to boiler temperature some time before the whole of the contents of the other compartment have been discharged into the generator, so that the, further advantage is gained that time is allowed for solid matter to be deposited from the quiescent body of water before it is let down into the generator.

The construction shown at Fig. 2 only differs from that at Fig. 1 in that the dischargepipe E for the feed-water instead of discharging into the steam and water drum B is led down into the pipe M, communicating with the lower part of the lower Water-box L of the generator, in order by the greater head of water afforded by the storage-reservoirs than that of the steam and water drum B to produce an accelerated circulation through the tubes K of the generator. The action is otherwise precisely the same asab ove described with reference to Fig. 1, and the corresponding parts are indicated by the s ame letters of reference. H

Having described the invention, what is claimed is W 1. In combination with a steam-generator, a vessel divided into two compartments ,by a partition having an opening at the top by means of which said chambers intercommunicate, a tubular connection between the steam-space of the generator and one of said chambers for supplying both chambers continuously with steam, means for supplying each chamber separately and alternately with feed-water, and means for discharging the contents of the one chamber into the steam-generator while the other chamber is being filled, substantially as described.

2. In combination with a steam-generator, a vessel divided by a partition such as H into two separate compartments A and A, only communicating with each other by an opening in the top of said partition, a tube C C establishing a communication between the steam-space of the generator and one of the said compartments, a pipe E with valve devices adapted to establish a communica tion between either of the said compartments and the water-space of the generator, and means for admitting a controlled supply of feed-water separately to each of said compartments, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

DRUITT HALPIN.

Witnesses:

JosEPH MILLARD, WALTER J. SKERTEN. 

